The Thank You Letter

Everyone likes to receive a thank you card or letter, it makes them feel appreciated.

It doesn’t need to be anything long or effusive, a simple thank you note will do the job just as well.

As with all the letters we help you put together, we’ll go for the three paragraph version.

When might you want to send it?
Whenever anyone you’ve been in touch with has helped you.
After a job interview.
After an information meeting in your network.
After meeting a contact for the first time, to the person in your network who made the recommendation to meet.
Any time you just feel like saying “thank you”.

Lets take the second example, after the job interview.

The Salutation

You know who you met so you should know to whom to address the letter, make it the person in charge of the interview (if you were interviewed by more than one person, mention the others in the first paragraph):-

Dear Peter
(better than “Mr Smith”, you would have been on first name terms in the interview, stay on first name terms in any future correspondence or phone calls)

Paragraph OneThank you for your time today (and that of your colleagues, Joe and Steve) when we discussed my application for the position of Chief Widget Bender in your company.

Paragraph TwoSince talking to you, I have been thinking about the job on offer and working out how I might be able to improve the work flow around the left hand bending jig by introducing a method I used in my previous company which saved about ten minutes on each operation.(use this as a chance to show you really could benefit the company and you’re already planning how to do it)
orDuring the course of our discussion I don’t think we got around to talking about my experience with the Jamieson tube straightener, similar to the Bryson staight line die used by yourselves, and I’d like to tell you more next time.(a useful way of introducing things which you realised, after the interview, should have been part of the discussion)

Paragraph ThreeI’m looking forward to meeting up with you again(for the second interview) or (once you have decided about the job offer).

The Ending

Yours sincerely
(remember the rule?)

Other examples of thank you letters are available in the letter pack. (to be added)